Lady Wolverines Defeat Raider Girls

January 12, 2012

GRAETTINGER - A meeting of two Palo Alto County teams resulted in a 47-44 victory for the Lady Wolverines of West Bend-Mallard/Gilmore City-Bradgate on Tuesday night over Ruthven-Ayrshire/ Graettinger-Terril.

The Raider girls of RA/GT would pop out to an early lead on Tuesday as the Lady Wolverines were rocked early in losing Jessica Abrahamson to three fouls by the mid-point of the opening quarter of play. With one of their defensive go-to players watching from the bench, the Lady Wolverines would trail 13-9 at the end of the first frame.

Ruthven-Ayrshire/Graettinger-Terril would continue to lead through the second frame, posting a 30-23 lead at the intermission, as both teams struggled with hanging on to the ball.

Article Photos

WBM/GCB’s Sarah Mader draws the attention of the Raider defense as she tries a shot under the bucket in Tuesday’s meeting of the two teams at Graettinger. The Lady Wolverines would earn a 47-44 win over the Raiders in the contest. --Dan Voigt photo

Physical play was the rule of the third quarter, with both teams watching their foul totals rise, and the turnovers continue as the Raiders held on to the lead, taking a 38-31 lead into the final frame after a lackluster offensive quarter for both teams.

In the final frame, however, fouls would come back to haunt the Raiders, as in the space of a minute, Emily Moran, Brooke Hoffman and Grace Skattebo would all foul out, forcing Coach Corey Boe to send several underclassmen into the fray.

With :45 to play, the Raiders clung to a 44-42 lead, but the Lady Wolverines would take the lead and earn the win on a jumper by Kayla Banwart with :00.3 to go for the 47-44 final score.

The Lady Wolverines were led by the 15 point effort of Mckenzie Grimm, while Kayla Banwart added 12 points. Haley Banwart added seven points off the bench, while Sarah Berte tallied four points. Kaley Lempke scored three points, and Wendy Grimm, Courtney Banwart and Ashley Schmidt all scored two points.

For Ruthven-Ayrshire/ Graettinger-Terril, Brook Hoffman would lead all scorer with 18 points. Lauren Flaharty added nine points and Cassy Hampson scored seven points. Emily Moran and Mariah Girres both tallied three points each, while Alex Oleson and Katie Olesen both scored two points.

Ruthven-Ayrshire/Graettinger-Terril's Raider girls will continue Cornbelt Conference play on Friday when they travel to Corwith-Wesley-LuVerne.

For West Bend-Mallard-Gilmore City-Bradgate, the league play continues when they play host Clay Central-Everly on Friday night.